A doctor charged with sexually assaulting a nurse at Mayo General Hospital yesterday denied that he had ever used force on the complainant but admitted they had kissed.
He was giving evidence on the second day of a jury trial of the matter at Castlebar Circuit Court. The assault is alleged to have occurred in July 1998.
The nurse was a person of senior standing in the hospital whom he highly respected and who was respected by everybody, he told the court. He very much regretted that so many people had to be put through such suffering in the staging of the trial.
A number of prosecution witnesses, including three senior doctors, three nurses and a matron, gave evidence.
The accused was described as "a highly educated professional, a gentleman, a person loved by everyone".
Sgt Martin Murphy read out a statement, taken from the defendant after he was charged with sexual assault, showing that he had denied any knowledge or participation in the alleged incident.
Yesterday, in evidence, the doctor said he had denied the event because he was in total shock. He had never been arrested before and he thought there had just been a complaint about kissing.
He was a married man with a loving wife and two teenage children and he just could not focus or concentrate on questions put to him in the Garda station until he had a chance to be with his wife.
He had been kept in custody for eight hours. However, he had sworn to tell the whole truth in court yesterday and that was what he would do. His wife was present, his family knew the facts and they all supported him.
He recalled that there had been an incident between himself and the nurse in a scanning room in the hospital.
He was a locum doctor, providing weekend cover for another doctor on that date. The previous day, the nurse had complimented him on the perfume he was wearing. She asked him the name of it. He could not remember what it was and told her he would tell her the next day.
The following morning he told her it was "Jean Paul Gaultier". She complimented him again and he took her hand, kissed her on the cheek and thanked her. She smiled and blushed.
During that day, she contacted him on his mobile or pager on at least seven or eight occasions. He thought this unusual, as he expected only to be called for emergencies, and these seemed to be routine matters.
He decided to carry out a scan on one patient and went to the scanner room to retrieve the machine. The nurse said she would accompany him.
All the time she asked him questions about a patient she was concerned about. He reassured her not to worry about it.
"I felt she was coming a bit closer to me. She touched the buttons on my jacket and complimented me again on the perfume I was wearing.
"I gave her another kiss on the cheek and said thanks. At that time we were very close together. I felt she was looking for something more than that.
"After all the calls, the compliments, the smiling and blushes, I felt she wanted to be kissed and I kissed her.
"When she came closer I put my other arm around her and kissed her very passionately. Yes, French kissing. I felt she was very passionately kissing me back.
"There were some quick kisses and then she said, `No,' in a soft way that I did not think she meant for me to stop.
"I took it as more flirting and an invitation for more kissing, and I kissed her again. She said, `Stop, stop', in a very firm way and at that time I realised she did not want this.
"That was an absolutely shocking moment. I asked myself, what am I doing? What are we doing here? We were in the hospital, two senior figures. What we were doing is completely wrong. I am married. She has a boyfriend. I was in complete shock. I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me."
The doctor stated that there was huge embarrassment between both parties for some minutes afterwards. However, he felt that he and she were having normal conversation again by the time he left the hospital that evening.
Judge Harvey Kenny requested the jury to return at 10.30 a.m. today to hear final submissions in the case.